President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in Iowa by 822,544 votes (51.99 percent) to 730,617 (46.18 percent). Early GOTV carried the election for the president. Among Iowans who cast early ballots in person or by mail, 405,913 voted for Obama and 268,558 for Romney. Among election-day voters, 462,059 voted for Romney and 416,631 for Obama.

The Obama campaign and Iowa Democratic Party did a better job identifying and mobilizing independent supporters to vote early. As of November 5, registered Democrats who had returned early ballots outnumbered registered Republicans who had done so by about 65,000. But Obama received 137,355 more early votes in Iowa than Romney. He must have done well among roughly 200,000 no-party voters who cast early ballots.

The full statewide statistical report will come out sometime in January, after county auditors have submitted their final reports to the Secretary of State’s office.

Iowa Democrats registered more new voters during the closing weeks of the campaign, including those who registered on election day. As of September 1, there were 602,636 active registered Democrats, 620,868 Republicans, and 666,279 no-party voters statewide. But as of December 3, there were 640,776 active registered Democrats, 636,315 Republicans, and 722,348 no-party voters. After the jump I’ve posted an Iowa Democratic Party press release on this subject.

Iowa Democratic Party press release of December 3:

Iowa Democratic Party Registered Nearly 30,000 New Voters Since October 1

Massive voter outreach effort in final weeks lead to historic victory in Iowa

Des Moines – The number of registered Democrats in Iowa once again exceeds the total number of registered Republicans, according to the latest figures provided by the Secretary of State’s website.

Following the October figures which saw Democrats close a 10,000 voter gap down to just over 1400, the Iowa Democratic Party now leads the Republican Party by approximately 5000 voters after adding an additional 12,733 active voters to their rolls during the month of November.

As of December 1, there are now 640,776 active Democrats compared to 636,315 active Republicans. No Party voters still lead with a total of 722,348 active voters.

The targeted push to register new voters across the state is considered the reason Iowa had a record number of voters turn out in 2012. As noted by the Quad City Times today, Iowa was an anomaly in the November presidential election with a higher turnout when most of the nation saw total votes decline from previous presidential years.

“The fact that we were able to register nearly 30,000 voters inside of two months speaks to the tremendous organization we put in place this election,” said Sue Dvorsky, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. “While we are very proud of the extraordinary work our staff and volunteers did this cycle, these numbers also show what we have been saying for months: this election was going to come down to which party’s message most closely aligned with the values and priorities of Iowa’s many independent voters.”